Temptation - Brenda Jackson [26]
A smile touched Zeke’s lips. “I hate to say I told you so, but I did tell you so.”
“I know. I know. But Abigail and I have been bad news for years.”
“Yeah, but someone getting on your bad side is one thing, Brad. Accusing someone, especially a woman, of having anything to do with abandoning a child is another.”
Brad held his gaze for the longest time. “And you of all people should know, right?”
Zeke nodded. “Yes, I should know.”
Zeke took another sip of his wine. As his best friend, Brad was one of the few people who knew his history. Brad knew how Zeke’s mother had abandoned him. Not on a doorstep, but in the care of his aunt. Although his aunt had been a godsend, he’d felt abandoned those early years. Alone. Discarded. Thrown away. No longer wanted.
It had taken years for him to get beyond those childhood feelings. But he would be the first to admit those childhood feelings had subsequently become adult hang-ups. That was one of the reasons he only engaged in casual affairs. He wouldn’t let anyone walk out on him again. He would be the one doing the walking.
“Abigail certainly took my accusation hard,” Brad said, breaking into Zeke’s thoughts. “I’ve known her since we were kids and I’ve never known her to be anything but tough as nails. Seeing her break down like that really got to me.”
“I could tell. You seemed to be holding her pretty tightly when I walked in.”
He chuckled at the blush that appeared in Brad’s features. “Well, what else was I supposed to do?” Brad asked. “Especially since I was the reason she’d gotten upset in the first place. I’m going to have to watch what I say around her.”
Especially if it’s about babies, Zeke thought, deciding not to say the words out loud. If Brad wasn’t concerned with the reason the woman fell to pieces then he wouldn’t be concerned with it, either. Besides, he had enough on his plate.
“So how’s the baby?” Brad asked, breaking into his thoughts yet again.
“Sunnie?”
“Yes.”
He leaned back in his chair as he thought about how she had wet him up pretty good when he’d given her a bath. He’d had to throw his shirt into Sheila’s dryer. “She’s fine. I checked on her yesterday.”
“And the woman that’s taking care of her. That nurse. She’s doing a pretty good job?”
Zeke thought about Sheila. Hell, he’d thought about her a lot today, whether he had wanted to or not. “Yes, she’s doing a pretty good job.”
“Well, I hope the results from the paternity test come up quickly enough for her sake.”
Zeke lifted a brow. “Why for her sake?”
“I would hate for your nurse to get too attached to the baby.”
Zeke nodded. He would hate for “his” nurse to get too attached to Sunnie, as well.
“She is such a cutie,” Summer Franklin said as she held Sunnie in her arms. Surprisingly, Sunnie hadn’t cried when Summer had taken her out of Sheila’s arms. She was too fascinated with Summer’s dangling earrings to care.
Sheila liked Summer. She was one of the few people she felt she could let her guard down around. Because Sheila had a tendency to work all the time, this was the first time she’d seen Summer in weeks.
“Yes, she is a cutie,” Sheila said. “I can’t imagine anyone abandoning her like that.”
“Me, neither. But you better believe Zeke’s going to get to the bottom of it. I’m glad Darius brought him on as a partner. My husband was working himself to death solving cases. Now he has help.”
Sheila nodded, wondering how much Summer knew about Zeke, but didn’t want to ask for fear her friend would wonder why.
Although Sunnie had slept through the night, she herself, on the other hand, had not. Every time she closed her eyes she had seen Zeke, looking tall, dark, handsome and fine as any man had a right to be. Then she also saw another image of him. The one sleeping peacefully on the sofa with the baby lying on his chest. She wondered if he would marry and have children one day. She had a feeling he would make a great dad just from his interaction with Sunnie.
“Oops, I think she’s ready to return to you now,” Summer said, breaking her thoughts. She smiled when she saw Sunnie